Fireworks Glossary

Everything you always wanted to know about fireworks.

Aerial
Repeater

Aerial Repeater: Sometimes referred to as "repeaters" or
"multi-shot aerials", a cake is an item that has
a single fuse which is used to light several
tubes in sequence. Cakes can have a variety of
intricate aerial effects, including spinners,
fish, flower bouquets, comets, crossettes, and
other elements. Cakes are the most popular
consumer fireworks item outside of sparklers and
firecrackers.

Bottle Rocket: A small rocket that is approximately the
size of a standard firecracker, one and one-half
inches long, with a thin stick attached to it
that is approximately 12 inches in length.
Bottle rockets can contain whistle effects and
may contain a report (loud bang).

Break

Break: The aerial burst of a shell that produces
the star and color effect.

Brocade
Effect

Brocade: A
spider like effect in the sky, much like fine
lace. The brocade effect is generally a silver
tail effect, and is brighter than the willow or
tiger tail effect. Most brocade effects use
glitter to produce the long brocade tails.

Cake

Cake: see
Aerial Repeater

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum: A spherical break of colored stars, similar
to a peony, but with stars that leave a visible
trail of sparks.

Comet

Comet: A type
of star that leaves a trail of sparks as it
flies through the air.

Cone

Cone: A type of
fountain in the shape of a cone.

Consumer Fireworks

Consumer Fireworks:
Fireworks that have been approved by the US
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Fireworks that are approved by the CPSC must be
able to withstand 350 degree temperatures for
two days, must not be able to explode with
mechanical shock, are limited to 500 grams of
composition, and can not contain aerial bursts
that have more than 130 milligrams of flash
powder. If the item has not been approved by the
CPSC, it can not be classified as consumer
fireworks. Also categorized by the DOT as 1.4G
Fireworks.

Crossette

Crossette: A
type of comet that breaks into multiple comets,
usually forming a cross shape.

Firecracker

Firecracker: A
fireworks item containing flash powder and
wrapped in paper with a fuse attached. When the
fuse is lit, it burns down inside the paper
until it reaches the flash powder. The
deflagration of the flash powder results in a
loud bang. Legal consumer firecrackers are
limited to a maximum of 50 milligrams of flash
powder.

Fireworks

Fireworks: A
device that is designed to be burned or ignited
in order to yield a visible and/or audio effect.

Fish
Effect

Fish Effect: An
aerial effect that looks like a swarm of objects
squirming though the air. This effect usually
lasts only a few seconds. Fish are actually a
type of fuse that propels itself through the
air, creating a swimming effect.

Fountain

Fountain:
A ground device that emits showers of sparks
several feet in the air.

Glitter
Effect

Glitter Effect:
A tail effect that contains flashes of light and
small explosive bursts lasting several seconds.

Go
Getter

Go Getter: A
self-propelled star that "swims" in the sky link
a rocket without fins.

Ground
Item

Ground Item:
Ground items are any item that is lit on the
ground and does not shoot objects into the sky.
This includes fountains, sparklers, snaps,
snakes, pops, smoke balls, and other items.

Helicopter

Helicopter: A
term for a device that spins very fast and lifts
high into the sky, only to explode or burst into
a special aerial effect. These are also called
helicopters, sky flyers or UFOs.

Jumping
Jacks

Jumping Jacks:
Similar in appearance to a firecracker, jumping
jacks spin rapidly and emit red and green
sparks.

Mine

Mine: An aerial
device that shoot stars into the sky in an
upward spray pattern.

Missile

Missile: In
fireworks, a missile is a sky rocket that does
not have a stick for guidance. Instead, it may
rotate to give it some stability as it lifts
off, use fins for stability, or may be shot from
a tube (like Saturn Missile Batteries).

Mortar

Mortar: A
mortar is a paper or HDPE tube containing a
shell with a long fuse. The shell has a lift
charge on the bottom that helps propel it into
the air. Once in the air, the shell explodes
open and release stars and other effects that
streak the sky with various designs. Most
display fireworks are shot from mortars.

Novelty

Novelty:
Fireworks items that limited in their potential
to harm people and property, such as snaps,
snakes, poppers, and (sometimes) sparklers.

Palm
Tree Effect

Palm Tree Effect:
Fireworks items that limited in their potential
to harm people and property, such as snaps,
snakes, poppers, and (sometimes) sparklers.

Parachute

Parachute: A
paper projectile that is expelled from a mortar
tube either as a single-shot item, or as a
multi-shot effect in a cake, that bursts with
one or more parachutes that float to the ground.
The parachutes may contain flares or other
effects.

Peony
Effect

Peony Effect:
An aerial effect that looks like a spherical
ball of colored lights in the sky. A very common
aerial effect on most fireworks displays.

Plane

Plane:
See Helicopter.

Punk

Punk: A punk is
a bamboo stick with a brown coating that burns
slowly. These look identical to incense sticks,
but do not have a distinctive aromatic effect
like incense does. Punks are generally used to
light consumer fireworks. Another way to light
fireworks is with an instant-on propane torch or
a road flare. Because fuses are known to spit
fire occasionally, lighting fireworks with
matches is strongly discouraged.

Reloadable Aerial

Reloadable Aerial:
A reloadable aerial is an aerial mortar that
includes one or more mortar tubes and several
reloadable aerial shells. The shells are placed
inside the mortar tube, a long quick-burning
fuse is lit, and the item is fired into the sky.
These items are consumer versions of the
mortar-based fireworks used in commercial
fireworks displays.

Repeater

Repeater: See
Aerial Repeater.

Report

Report: A
report is another name for a bang. Items with
reports explode with a bang. This term is most
often used with rockets and cakes.

Roman
Candle

Roman Candle: A
paper tube filled with composition that shoots
flaming balls out one end of the tube. Most
roman candles have five or more balls. Roman
candles should never be held in your hand.
Instead, they should be planted securely in the
ground and pointed away from people and
flammable objects. A good way to shoot roman
candles is to get a five gallon pail and fill it
with kitty litter. The roman candles can be
easily inserted into the bucket of kitty litter
and fired safely.

Salute

Salute: A
salute is an item that explodes. This term is
most frequently used in regard to aerial items,
although some people refer to firecrackers as
"ground salutes". When a salute explodes, it is
referred to as a "report."

Shell

Shell: A shell
is an aerial item that is fired into the sky. It
generally consists of a fuse, a lift bag, and a
paper ball filled with stars and burst media.
The fuse lights the lift bag on the bottom of
the shell propelling it into the sky. At the
same time, an internal time fuse is triggered
and at the right time the paper shell bursts
with all of its stars lit. The type of stars
contained inside the shell determines the effect
the shell produces in the sky.

Single
Shot Aerial

Single Shot Aerial:
A single shot aerial is a mortar tube with a
shell already installed in it. These items
generally have a fuse sticking out the side of
the mortar at the base of the tube. While these
are single-shot, one time use items only, these
items can produce some spectacular effects.

Sky
Rocket

Sky Rocket: A
sky rocket is a pyrotechnic device made out of a
paper tube that propels itself into the air in
order to fly. Sky rockets generally have a stick
to add stability to the flight of the rocket.
Firework rockets that do not have sticks are
referred to as missiles.

Smoke
Bomb

Smoke Bomb: An
item that produces a smoke effect instead of
light or noise. Smoke items are generally used
during the daytime.

Snaps

Snaps: Snaps
are paper balls that are filled with a cap
composition that goes BANG when they are thrown
at something. Snaps are generally safe for most
kids to use.

Sparkler

Sparkler: A
stick with a coating of pyrotechnic composition
that creates sparks when lit. While sparklers
are generally considered safe, they are
responsible for over eighty percent of the
injuries due to fireworks each year. This is
because people throw the hot sparkler wires on
the ground and other people step on them. If you
use sparklers, please make sure you have a
bucket of water handy to place the used sparkler
wires in when the sparkler burns out.

Star

Star: A small
pellet of composition that produces a
pyrotechnic effect. Stars are used in aerial
shells, rockets, roman candles, cakes, and
fountains to produce streaks or light, pulses,
long golden tails, and other aerial effects. A
single shell could contain several hundred
stars.

Stick
Rocket

Stick Rocket:
See Sky Rocket

Strobe
Effect

Strobe Effect: A
strobe is a blinking effect. When used in a
shell with hundreds of strobe stars, the strobe
effect looks like shimmering water in the sky.
Strobes can be a variety of colors, including
white, green, blue, and orange.

Tube

Tube: See
Mortar.

Wheel

Wheel: A wheel
is a stationary device that spins and creates a
circular ring of fire and sparks. These are
generally nailed to a pole or a tree before they
are lit. You should always be careful to make
sure the area is free from flammable debris
before you light a wheel as the sparks can carry
ten feet or more.

Wholesale Fireworks

Wholesale Fireworks:
Fireworks that are sold by the case. You can
generally save twenty percent of more by
purchasing fireworks by the case.